Fall/Halloween/All Saints

Because I am the sort to procrastinate (and because the attic ladder was broken until just a few days ago), we did not put up any decorations until Thursday, the day before Halloween. As it turns out, we had good bit of rain, so I am thankful that we had not set up any outside decorations ahead of time. But I do enjoy adding a few touches of fall/Halloween to our shelves.

Inspired by All Saints food tags from Lacy at Catholic Icing, we set a table with snacks to represent several saints. I keep thinking that I want to create a generic saints tag (cause the tags just make everything festive) and have each guest bring a treat to represent their favorite saint. 

We do have the most festive family! These are most of my wonderful children and grandchildren (one family is missing from the photo line up as they came later), some nieces and nephews, and a few dear friends. 

Oh, and Paul was missing above. We caught him with Jack Sparrow and Maleficent (who hand made her entire costume by the way!), and also carrying a tired trick-or-treater on his shoulders. 

Next Friday is our annual homeschool All Saints party, so there is more fun in store! 

I've linked these before, but here are a few articles for the season:

http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/all-hallow-s-eve.html 

This above link was going to the site and not the article- if that happens, just type "Halloween" in the search bar and then click on this article :

 All Hallow's Eve

One of the nicest surprises of living around the year with the Church is to find that Halloween is part of it.

http://www.domestic-church.com/CONTENT.DCC/20000901/ARTICLES/all_souls.htm

Halloween And All Saints Food and Fun

This is really "All Hallow's Eve" as we don't have everyone over again on 

All Saint's Day (maybe we should!). 

We put out our saints themed food using the printable cards from Catholic Icing- 

Aren't these fun?! :) 

http://catholicicing.com/easy-party-food-ideas-for-all-saints/

A young friend of ours contributed some saint themed food with her own cards and drawings.

I love it!!! 

As usual, I procrastinated, but managed to put up a few fun fall/halloween decorations. 

Along with our saints line up (not sure why I only took a picture when half were up...). 

 James created these fun ghosts that we found via Pinterest.

http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010/09/todays-project-spirit-jugs.html

We used those bracelet glow sticks to light them- green works best (by far). 

Other Fun: 

My adult kids just crack me up! Frank and I are going to have to get on board and dress up next year. 

Things to note- 

I announced a few years ago that Dorothy married the Scarecrow. Now they have a new addition to the family! I guess in OZ Scarecrow and Dorothy could have a baby lion! :) 

I don't have a picture of my daughter's whole family (top right), as they arrived later in the evening, but I love love love her costume. Notice the two little ones in there? Yup. That's some news! 

And Erin (bottom left), is Princess Peach to her boyfriend Nick's Mario (isn't he a good sport!). 

Last but not least the adorable Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head! Toy story themed all the way with the dinosaur and Woody. And, hiding under that pink nose on Mrs. Potato Head... a little girl!! :) 

Just a few random pics: 

Lord of the rings was a big theme around here this year too! And notice the fire fighter handing out candy- he also let the kids sit in the truck. That was a serious treat. Mark made good use of his Civil War attire for Halloween. 

Erin did some adorable pumpkins- you know those cute ones that are all around Pinterest that have patterns on them using a drill? She did that and then used them to hold flowers. Super duper cute but no pictures! If I can find some, I'll come back in add. 

In the meantime... I can show you these. 

Articles about Halloween and All Saints Day- 

http://catholicism.about.com/od/thecatholicfamily/p/Halloween.htm

http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/all-hallow-s-eve.html